Vendor Reviews
Venue:
The Swiss lodge, Bonney Lake, WA - A
We had a great experience with the lodge. Curtis is the caretaker up there and when we originally contacted him regarding the use of the location, he was a man of few words, at best. I had my doubts. However, the fact that they had space and tables and chairs for up to 400 guests, an indoor and outdoor area, use of the location from 8am until midnight with no sound restrictions, and no catering restrictions, we decided to go with it. Plus, the cost at $1500 was much less than many other locations we had looked at that offered less. I cannot tell you how happy I was with it! The day of, Curtis was available for anything we needed and was so helpful. The ceremony was held outside on the front lawn area and it was just beautiful and the lodge was spacious to hold the tables and chairs for all of my 200+ guests and still have a place for a large dance floor. I could not have been happier!
Bartender:
Tacoma Bartending Academy, Tacoma, WA – A
When I first began looking for bartenders, I was simply looking for someone licensed and not super expensive. The only place I called was the Tacoma Bartending Academy and I got much more than I expected. They were wonderful! They were open to doing the bar however we wanted, and we went with beer kegs, boxed wine, and cans of soda and bottles of water. They also allowed us to choose between $15/hour with a tip jar or $20/hour without. Another nice option. The bartender was fun and took care of all the refreshments, no problem!
Photographer:
The Photo Pro Inc, Renton, WA – A++++
John and Leona Clissold at the Photo Pro are the most wonderful people! We met them at a wedding show in Tacoma in September last year and even though they were there to meet as many people as possible, they took a good 20 minutes to talk to me about their services. That meant a lot to me. I knew after the time I spent with them there that they were the ones I wanted. Their cost was fairly median. Some photography packages can be upwards of $3000+. They were with us for 9 hours with two photographers and their cost was $1395. I considered that a deal. We did our engagement photos with them in April and they turned out beautifully. They are so super fun to work with!! John knows just the right shot to get and Leona is the photo-poser-extraordinaire!! I will continue to use them for all major life events in the future, without a doubt! I cannot sing high enough praises about these two!!
Disk Jockey:
Foremost DJ, Burien, WA – B
Jim Fore of Foremost DJ was a good fit for us. We met him at the Seattle Wedding Show in January and he was super nice to us from the word go. He had a special at the Wedding Show, so our total cost for 5 hours was $599. That included two systems (one for ceremony, one for reception), a wireless mic, and some lights for the dance floor. He played Master of Ceremonies as well and did a good job of keeping everyone going. The only negative we had was that we wanted to do a money dance and he did it so late in the evening that half of our guests had left. I think we missed out on a lot by that. Other than that, he was great!
Cake:
Suzie’s Custom Cakes, Renton, WA – A
We found Suzie Vo on Craigslist and I was honestly a little weary. She learned cake making by attending Wilton Cakery courses, and makes the cakes out of her house as supplemental income. Well, I’ll tell you what! My cake was gorgeous!! Exactly what I asked for!! And delicious to boot. Suzie even took the time to learn how to quilt the fondant because we loved the technique so much when we saw it on the Food Network. She made for us my 3 layer square quilted Bride’s cake, a ½ sheet size replica of my husband’s favorite yard game for the groom’s cake, and another ½ sheet to supplement servings all for $425. Less than half the cost of the least expensive bakery! She even supplied the flowers for the cake and the layer dividers and display board! Suzie certainly has a future in cake making!
Table/Chair Rental:
Tents and Events, Kent, WA – F- - - - - (if I could award a Z grade, I would!!!)
I cannot express with American English my dislike for this company. I first met Dallas and Kim at the Seattle Wedding Expo in January and my first impressions were great. They gave me a 25% discount for early booking and they had all the tables and chairs that I had wanted. I paid my down payment in February, and then had it paid in full a few months later. I spoke with them a few times to verify the order; the last time was the day before the wedding. All was a go. They were scheduled to deliver between 8 and 11 am. 11:00 came and they had not yet shown up, so my coordinator called and couldn’t get a hold of anyone. There was an emergency number given on the voicemail, so she called that. After calling for nearly 45 minutes, someone finally answered. When she told her about our problem, and that we were still waiting for the tables and chairs, she said “sorry, I don’t know what to tell you” and then hung up on my coordinator. 2:00…4:00…nothing. My wedding was to be held at 5:00pm. We decided that we didn’t have a choice but to use the banquet style tables that our venue had available for us and my mother in law had to fun out at the last moment to buy table covers for these tables. My wedding was Saturday afternoon. Monday came and we called. At first my mom’s called were ignored. Then she got through to Kim, who apologized but gave no explanation. She did give us our money back, luckily for her. But my mom (who was handling this while we were on our honeymoon) rightfully expected an explanation. I wanted to talk to the owner, Dallas, who we found out was the one who was supposed to deliver to our wedding. He continued to dog our calls until 10 days after the wedding. I continued to call daily, and this day his receptionist must have been out of the office, because he picked up the phone. I’ll tell you this; he was thrown off kilter when I told him who I was. He was virtually speechless! And he didn’t have much to say after he got over that, either. The expected excuses were thrown around. Nothing else. He told me that He contracts out through other rental companies and that the items he had requested were not available that day as expected. So instead of calling me and explaining like he should have, he buried his head in the sand and pretended the problem didn’t exist. I would not wish this experience on anyone. DO NOT USE TENTS AND EVENTS IN KENT, WA!!!!
Travel Agent:
Divine Destinations, Enumclaw, WA – A
We met Desiree with Divine Destinations at the Seattle Wedding Show in January. She was super sweet and just wanted an opportunity to get us a quote. At this time, I had planned on booking with a local travel agent in Sumner. I told her exactly what it was we wanted. I was very specific. We wanted to leave the morning after the wedding, as early as possible, and fly to Puerto Vallarta. We wanted 7 nights at the Dreams Puerto Vallarta in a junior suite in the Preferred Tower. She came back $300 less than the other travel agent who had quoted us. I was surprised! I then went out and got quotes from 4 other agents. Desiree won out as the best, and it was a bonus that she also had the best customer service. We plan on taking an annual trip for our anniversary, and I will use Desiree whenever a travel agent is needed. She earned my business for life!
Florist:
A Perfect Petal, Seattle, WA – A+
I found Sharon Derringer by reading other vendor reviews on the Knot. Sharon is no stranger to knottie Brides, and my review of her is no different than the rest. She is wonderful! I was probably more schizophrenic about the flowers than any other part of my wedding. I know NOTHING about flora and fauna, and so I had no idea what I was looking for, what seasons each type of flower was, or what colors they came in. She was very patient with me and basically figured it all out for me. And when, just a couple months before my wedding, I changed my bridal bouquet completely and just sent her a picture I found in a magazine and asked her to replicate it, she didn’t ruffle a single feather. She was wonderful! And her prices were unbeatable, trust me, I got all the quotes I could! I would recommend Sharon to every bride out there, no matter how big or small your budget. She does beautiful work!
Limousine:
British Motor Coach, aka BMC Limo, Seattle, WA – A
My husband had originally wanted your run of the mill white stretch town car limo. He then decided that maybe he wanted something more exotic, but when we looked into cost, it just wasn’t feasible. I knew all along I wanted something special, something that would make pictures worth keeping. I had found BMC using a Google search, but when I showed my husband, he wasn’t sold. It just so happened that BMC had some of their classics on display at the Seattle Wedding Show, and we both fell in love with the Daimler Princess Limo. It is a beautiful, old white regal vehicle. We booked on the spot. They showed up on time and took us to the airport in style. Couldn’t ask for more.